Tennis fans were delighted when Danielle Collins announced she was postponing her planned retirement at the end of this year, but the American admits it is bittersweet because she wants to start a family.
Collins announced in January, after losing a thrilling three-set match to Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open, that she would end her career after the 2024 season because she wanted to have kids and live a quieter life.
The 30-year-old has a disease called endometriosis, which causes severe pelvic pain and makes it harder to become pregnant, but Collins' hoped to work through the issues of having a child by the end of 2024.
2024 would have been a memorable final year for Collins. She produced some of the best tennis seen on the WTA Tour in recent years during an incredible run of form in March and April.
Collins won the first WTA 1000 tournament of her career at the Miami Open. That triumph was even more special because it occurred in the 2022 Australian Open runner-up's home state of Florida.
However, Collins was not done there. The following week, she brought her blistering brand of tennis to the green clay courts of the Charleston Open and won the WTA-500 tournament without dropping a set.
The American also performed well during the following few months but never reached the exceptional heights seen in Miami and Charleston. The 30-year-old progressed to the quarterfinal at the Olympics but sustained an injury against Iga Swiatek and had to retire from the match.
That injury and a subsequent illness derailed the rest of Collins' season, meaning she did not qualify for the WTA Finals. But the Miami Open champion will have another opportunity after reversing her retirement decision.
Speaking to Sky Sports at the WTA Finals, where she was the second alternate but did not play a match, Collins described how bittersweet it felt to continue her career but not be able to start a family as previously planned.
"I think right now my career is a really good distraction from everything else that is going on. It's bittersweet and I’m excited to be able to continue playing but also hoping the next chapter can come sooner rather than later."
"It certainly has been so encouraging hearing all of these positive words from these people in tennis and a lot of the girls I compete against, they have become a huge support system to me over the last couple of months, and when I have had challenging times previously."
Although going through multiple appointments about the chances of becoming pregnant with endometriosis has been challenging, Collins is also grateful to have a career to fall back on.
"[There's] definitely some mixed emotions and these past couple of weeks, going through all of those appointments and trying to work through all the information you get in that process, it’s been hard at times."
"When I was going through it I was also thinking: ‘How lucky am I to have the option to have a career to fall back on?’ I couldn’t imagine not having gone through those appointments and understanding the challenges that might come along with this experience and not having my career."